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Mazda MPV: Problems & Solutions

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Comments

  • rumor24rumor24 Member Posts: 74
    If you go to the jatco web site you will find that toyota, mazda and a handful of other vehicles use their tansmissions. Coincidentally, those are the same vehicles claiming hard shift issues. Hmmm...... makes you think huh?
  • bigdadibigdadi Member Posts: 72
    If Toyota Sienna can come out with a fix of tranny hard-shift, why not Mazda? Is Mazda slow or what?
  • crissmancrissman Member Posts: 145
    For four years now I've been an extremely happy owner of a 2000 MPV, and have always been talking it up to anyone who'll listen. Now, for the past few weeks, all I see on this forum is complaints about unresolved transmission and power door problems in the newer 2002/2003's. Aren't you listening, Mazda/Ford? You are going to kill the golden goose that apparently the 2000/2001 models provided. From what I've read recently I would no longer consider a new MPV as a replacement for mine or recommend it to others. Get your act together and resolve these issues. If we, your customers, had wanted Odysee type problems we'd have bought one. Please do the right thing.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    Well, I just heard from my dealership after taking my MPV in. Just a little history, we've been able to get our MPV to do the hard shift anytime we want to, it's not just a sporadic thing. Anytime we accelerate steadily through to 3rd gear it does it. We've learned to avoid the hard shift by releasing the gas pedal while it's in 2nd gear and then re-depress it to shift to 3rd. Apparently our dealership called Mazda and told them this info. Mazda is very excited because the main problem why they can't figure out how to fix this is that they can't get any of the vans to do it consistently. Don't know how true that is, but they are ready to fly a Madza tech out here from Japan to play around with our van. Ha ha! We shall see...I'm not holding my breath!
  • frankmanfrankman Member Posts: 13
    Well done! You are definite not a soccer mom. Maybe your brilliant observation will save Mazda's face and fate. And, I bet many other tranny victims like you in this forum are trying out your theory as we speak. Hope more people can confirm your observation.
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    I find it hard to believe that a serious engineering effort would fail to find the root cause of the tranny issue. I hope they are finally getting serious but it could just as well be PR.

    Also, if the tranny is from JATCO, does that mean that the Mazda tech will now have to convince a JATCO tech? This could get quite silly...

    Time will tell...
  • rumor24rumor24 Member Posts: 74
    Be careful of what they tell you, mine was visited by one of the big service guys and they were going to haul it to Chicago to the test center until the boys in Schaumburg told him they knew what the problem was. He told me on the phone that it was now an issue with federal blah blah blah to be approved then they could fix it. Time frame was sometime afer the holidays but would not be as long as a year. Don't get too excited until you get into that vehicle, drive the daylights out of it, and it runs like a champ. Until then, its all just talk to make you happy. I don't want to burst your bubble, but I think we have all been thru it.
  • user777user777 Member Posts: 3,341
    you'd think, a good engineering facility should be able to put the transmission and all the associated external sensors and electronics to the test on a test stand, ie without any of it installed in the vehicle. ;)

    ...a serious engineering effort...yes, testing does involve experiment control, monitoring/data acquisition and repeatibility...

    the same environment used for verification and validation of the system design would be used for diagnosing the problem.

    maybe notasoccermom - you've locked onto another variant problem and they are sending one of their reps to make some field observations.
  • dtownfbdtownfb Member Posts: 2,918
    I can see why it is taking Mazda so long to figure out a fix for this problem. I ti is hard to duplicate. notasoccermom is the first one i've read that has been able to duplicate the hard shifting "on purpose". Everyone else has been reporting sporadic hard shifitng. And very few have been able to duplicate it for the delaers. Just because it happens once when the service manager is in the car with does not mean they can diagnose the problems based on one incident.

    I feel bad for all those experiencing the hard shifitng becuase it should not happen and it is a safety issue. I woudl recommend all those on the board who have the hard shifitng problem to try to duplicate it like notasoccermom, then take it to the dealer to get it on record. Just in case down the road there is a transmission failure.

    Good luck.
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    If they were serious about it they would have some number of MPVs being constantly tested under various conditions. This is not such an infrequent problem, and it does pop up (at least for me) under very specific, repeatable situations:
     
             1) Engine drivetrain at maximum operating temp. (e.g. at least 50 miles of highway driving or 1 hour in stop & go traffic)

            2) Repeated engine on/off driving cycles (such as when driving between different locations during the day) with 15-20 minutes between cycles.

            3) Under situations 1&2, moderate throttle acceleration between 2000-3000 rpms as from stop or slow crawl, when engine upshifts between 2-3 gears.

    It never happens when:

           1) Drivetrain cold/not fully warmed up
           2) Downshifting during rapid acceleration
           3) Engine RPM above 3000 or below 2000

    It would be interesting if others with the "hard shift" problem could confirm these circumstances.

    The dealer's inability to reproduce the "hard shifts" stems, in my opinion, from their unwillingness to spend more than 1 hour (or even more more than 20 minutes in most situations) in driving & evaluating the vans, as well as not listening very carefully to customers.
  • niblikniblik Member Posts: 5
    dan2004 said he experienced hard shifts with:

    "1) Engine drivetrain at maximum operating temp. (e.g. at least 50 miles of highway driving or 1 hour in stop & go traffic)

     2) Repeated engine on/off driving cycles (such as when driving between different locations during the day) with 15-20 minutes between cycles.

     3) Under situations 1&2, moderate throttle acceleration between 2000-3000 rpms as from stop or slow crawl, when engine upshifts between 2-3 gears.

    It never happens when:

     1) Drivetrain cold/not fully warmed up
     2) Downshifting during rapid acceleration
     3) Engine RPM above 3000 or below 2000"

    This is very close to my experience. It happens to me every day when I have about 20 minutes of highway driving to pick up my daughter from school, stop about 10 minutes to gather up her stuff, then start the car again and have mostly city driving to go get my son from a different school. It will typically hard shift from 2nd to 3rd about three times between my daughter's school and home. It almost never happens at any other time.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    Same circumstances as you guys note when the hard shift occurs. I think what we have here is an unwillingness by the service depts to get in the van and DRIVE it to reproduce the problem. When I dropped off my MPV, I told them that there IS a problem with it, and I DON'T want the van back with them telling me they couldn't reproduce the problem. They assured me they'd put some miles on it to get it to do the hard shift for them, and they did. Plenty of times. I guess I got lucky with a good service department? I wasn't so lucky with my Chevy Impala. I took it in 4 times over 2 years complaining about the power steeing cutting out while parking, and they just kept giving it back to me telling me that it's "normal" for it to be "stiff" at slow speeds (this wasn't "stiff", it took both arms and some muscle to pull it into a parking spot!) or they couldn't reproduce the problem. I finally made one of their mechanics get in the car with me while it was warmed up and I knew it would do it for him, and he said he felt it right away. I had Chevy customer assistance involved at this point and they approved for it to be a paid warranty repair even though it was 12K miles out of warranty. There was documentation of me bringing it in while it was under warranty for the same problem and never getting fixed. Ughh! I hate cars.
  • bigdadibigdadi Member Posts: 72
    Mazda should buy back 2-3 vehicles with same tranny hard shift problem, then drive these vehicles daily as regular families do. I gurantee they know what's going on from the feedback of Mazda drivers within a week. From there they really have to pintpoint the problem and work on a fix.

    MAZDA CANNOT TELL CUSTOMERS THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX IT. THIS WILL JUST HURT MAZDA SALES AND KICK AWAY PROTENTIAL BUYERS AND EXISTING OWNERS.

    Mazda may be aware that word of mouth is crucial to sales.
  • rumor24rumor24 Member Posts: 74
    I have to say that my dealer mechanic has seen the problem, knows that it has to be warm, brought the big dealer rep and he has seen it as well. My mechanic has been able to duplicate it and that is not the problem. He is as frustrated with Mazda as we are. He in all honesty just wants to get his customer(me) back in the running. I am the only one from this dealership to have the problem but he is wanting to get this fixed so that if others should come, he will be able to help them. Again, he is as frustrated as we are because they are giving him the run around as well. And as for the conditions, mine is pretty close to all of yours, they know the problem, suposedly they are waiting for some federal approval to make the fix happen (more red tape and promises). I don't fault the dealership at this time because they are all frustrated too. Perhaps if they refuse to sell that van on their lots it could fire mazda up to do something. Hmmmm food for thought.
  • user777user777 Member Posts: 3,341
    what do you mean by "they know the problem" and "waiting for some federal approval"?

    ???
  • bsvollerbsvoller Member Posts: 528
    I'm sorry, I don't buy this "the gov't made me do it" stuff. The gov't is everybody's favorite whipping boy - and most convenient excuse for delays.

    We have less gov't regulation now that any other country short of the 3rd world (they have the opposite problem - the rule of law is tenuous at best).

    Can anyone confirm just what gov't OK they might need, given that there's no official recall ?

    I'm doubtful on this one, somebody enlighten me.

    -brianV
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    Given the symptoms, my guess is that when the drive train in hot, excessive shear forces are generated in the tranny. The problem could be due to dissmilar materials expanding at different rates, tolerances that are too tight, or oil that is not up to snuff (i.e. the Mercon/Dextron III specification).

    My guess is that a software modification will only mask the root causes (e.g. programming in more slippage, engine retardation etc. at specific shift points).

    I'm thinking that the best hope for the beast is using synthetic ATF which has better shear properties.

    Any thoughts?
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    Have any of you thought of imposing the lemon law on your faulty MPV's? If so, what did you conclude was your recourse? I've inquired about it as I am starting to doubt they will fix this anytime soon. What I was told by an attorney is that they HAVE to buy back your van if it can't be made up to manufacturing compliance. That doesn't mean if it runs they don't have to buy it back. It means if it doesn't function the way it was intended to function, in any way/shape/form (even if it's just a headlight that won't stay lit!) they have to make it right by repairing it, or giving you a replacement vehicle that DOES work, or buy it back from you at WHAT YOU PAID for the vehicle. This usually has to occur in the first 12 months and X amount of miles (varies by state). With mine being so new, I think I have a good shot at invoking this on them. What are your experiences/thoughts?
  • lumbarlumbar Member Posts: 421
    Lemon laws vary from state to state, so their terms are often different. Without looking at the particular language first, it's difficult to speculate. That said, I have serious doubts that the hard shifting problem would qualify a vehicle as a "lemon"--possibly if it was very frequent and acute.
  • rumor24rumor24 Member Posts: 74
    they know what the problem is, they have to gte the fix approved they the goverment, see above messages or look in the mazda mpv board, i have been posting all of my results so far.
  • triplejmpvtriplejmpv Member Posts: 2
    A recent bulletin (December 2003) sent to the Dealers (in Canada) says that Jatco (transmission manufacturer) & Mazda acknowledges the Hard Shifting problems and a fix is plan by January-February 2004. Stay tuned!
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    that it comes to the states soon! I will be a very happy camper if they fix the problem because I love the van otherwise.

    Right now my van is on day #3 at the dealership. They are working with the Mazda techs in Japan via phone & fax and doing some testing & troubleshooting. They are mostly messing with the TCM and checking the error codes. It's weird if they know the problem why they are bothering, but maybe they just like to confirm their results with the fix they supposedly have in place. At least our dealership swapped the original loaner we got, a VERY stripped down Ford Escort with power-nothing, to a Protege with power everything & a sunroof. Not that we will be using it this time of year! But they are trying to keep us happy while they mess with our MPV.
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    I think its best to minimize slamming as much as possible. This cannot be good for the tranny or the drive train (CV joints etc.)

    One technique that seems to work somewhat is to immediately let off the gas when the engine suddenly revs up as you accelerate. If you don't it will slam. It will try to slam again if you push back on the throttle, so this has to be kept in mind. After about 2 or 3 times it seems to settle down.

    Am interested in learning what others are doing to minimize the "salmming."
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    We're getting our faulty MPV back today. Mazda finally got back to them with the "we know it's a problem but we can't fix it" routine. I'm so angry right now, they just can't do this to people. I'm getting a free consultation from a lawyer on this. The lemon law in Ohio is very stringent--for the consumer's benefit.

    My dealership says they have another 2004 in for the same problem, but only the 2 so far. I told him I'd heard this problem went as far back as the 2002 models, but he said this is the first they've heard of it and only on the 2004's.
  • user777user777 Member Posts: 3,341
    well, your experience is seemingly in contradiction to rumor24's assertion that they "know what the problem is". at least the feedback you got was "we know it's a problem" (which is not the same).

    but then, maybe your problem isn't the same problem being experienced by others...

    hopefully, you'll receive some documentation as to what your dealership tried over the span of the period that they had your van. this information might be helpful to others trying to get to the root cause.

    for example, did they merely try to modify the programming of the TCM or ECM or whatever? did they flush the transmission?

    if your dealership is sympathetic, and if they didn't try it, maybe they'd perform the flushing operation to see if it mitigates the problem...in the interest of true customer focus...for you, and the other '04 owner.

    good luck.

    p.s. i find it somewhat interesting, if the problem is so difficult to replicate, but in your case it is repeatible, why they aren't asking you if they may take your van (or a part of it like the transmission) to be used in further diagnostic testing or dis-assembly / inspection.
  • bigdadibigdadi Member Posts: 72
    I do think Mazda should give you a new 04 MPV with same color, same features and exchange yours for experimenting for fixing the hard shift problem.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    We're scheduling a meeting with our local Mazda rep, because I guess that's the next step if we are unhappy with the results of our service experience (even though it's not the dealership's fault). We may even be so bold as to have a lawyer present. I've contacted a few in the area that work with lemon law and they think we've got a good case. I'll keep everybody posted!
  • dottybdottyb Member Posts: 2
    After reading all the transmission messages (and going to the Odyssey and finding they had transmission problems, too) I bought a 2004 MPV. And it almost immediately began an occasional hard shift, when accelerating through about 20 mph or so. I've only got 250 miles on the car and it's happened about 20 times. I've been playing with the "overdrive on" versus off button and it seems to happen more when the overdrive is off. Has anyone noticed this pattern? Meanwhile, I'm about to contact my dealership. Any recommendations? (Otherwise, it holds the road well in all the snow we've been having)
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    OD has nothing to do with it. Looks like you got stuck with a particularly bad one.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    dottyb, I am very surprised you still bought one after you read about all the problems here--no offense. It's not so much that it has problems, more the fact that they can't fix it!! I would much rather have bought an Odyssey knowing it may give me trouble as long as they could fix it. Mazda has to be the rudest, most uncaring car company I have ever dealt with. They really could care less that this is a major issue and they are really dragging their feet fixing the problem. Although apparently it's not hurting sales much if you went out and bought one after hearing about this. It really should be hurting sales, we've told everyone we know about this, including 2 sets of people who are in the market for a minivan. They are steering clear of this van. We have been in touch with our local Mazda rep, and he's been very helpful and agrees that we are entitled to a new vehicle. However, he referred us to the proper channels within Mazda to go through to get the ball rolling. He gave us a 1-800 number to call, and he said to ask for the "customer compliance" department. When we called, we were so rudely told that we could not talk to that department. We told them that our local rep told us to call there, and they said that our local rep lied to us and they would not transfer us to the department. When asked to speak to a department head, we were so rudely told they were not available. I have never been treated so badly by a company that I just spent $26,000 with. Mazda is avoiding this issue like the plague and putting up a big brick wall for anyone who wants the resolution they deserve (which is a vehicle without a defect). We are pursuing legal channels at this point, and I hope they are happy they will be getting sued. In the meantime, these defective minivans continue rolling off the assembly line with bad transmissions with Mazda's knowledge and being put into the hands of unsuspecting and helpless consumers. Can you tell we are a little pi**ed off?? dottyb, I am sorry to say you're not going to get anywhere in getting your minivan fixed.
  • frankmanfrankman Member Posts: 13
    Like dottyb, I was fully aware of the hard shifting, but got an 04 MVP anyway. It only took me a day to fully experience with what people have been talking about the tranny problem, and even worse. As dan2004 posted a few days back, I had an around 50 miles highway driving followed by a long local driving with a lot of stop-and-gos. The hard shifting surfaced as soon as I got out of highway and hit the local. And it was consistantly slamming between 2nd and 3rd shifts, if I let it went continuously. I suspect every MPV under the conditions as dan2004 described earlier will get the hard shift. It is not as I was thinking just found in low percentage of cars. The reason many people don't have the problem, maybe just because they don't happen to have those driving situations. It is such a shame, the 04 MPV looks so cool. Hope they can come up with a fix soon.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    It IS chronic and frequent. It does it ALL the time. We've learned how to drive it to avoid making it happen, but we can get it to do it all the time if we want to. The vehicle just has to be warmed up for 10 minutes before it starts.

    We've already consulted 2 atty's and they both said we definitely have a good case. The 3 repair attempt rule doesn't even come into play because Mazda already admits they can't fix it. We've got that in writing directly from Mazda and through our Mazda dealership.
  • tccmn1tccmn1 Member Posts: 278
    I thought I read on someone's post that the beloved Mazda Profs are coming thru with a fix in January-February? Supposedly, my name is on the dreaded list at my dealer to be informed when the great swammie (sp?) comes down with the message! I'm so use to problems with trannys from the Dodge and Chrysler mini's that this isn't so bad. They WILL fix it eventually, and all it SHOULD cost is time with a loaner.
    My DC was in the shop for a week when it went out and Chrys. was nice to give me another mini to use...so I guess the word is patience..grrrrr.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    And they were informed by Mazda that there wasn't one yet. I think someone posted that they had an announcement for Canada that there's a fix, but I don't think we've heard of one in the states. If there's one in Canada, you'd think we'd have one at the same time! But who knows. We are having a meeting with our local Mazda rep on Monday the 29th, and I think he's going to do a van swap for us. If the new one doesn't have the problem, we do a vin# swap with the loan company, if it does, then we have to go from there.
  • mjvchicagomjvchicago Member Posts: 149
    I posted a few messages about having the harsh tranny problem with my 2003 MPV. I'm now at 1500 miles, and I think the MPV has gotten used to me and my wife's driving style. We haven't had any clunks in about 800 miles.

    My approach at this point is that if I go to my next oil change without any more clunks, I'll consider this a "learning" mechanism of the onboard computer and that it's adjusted to our particular driving style.
  • bigdadibigdadi Member Posts: 72
    May be the cold weather keep it from surfacing. I live in Boston and didn't feel the hard-shift for a couple of weeks, then it happened again yesterday. It's like a little bump from the car behind. It happened twice within a short time in same trip.
  • kaneonapuakaneonapua Member Posts: 3
    Wretched Ford Contour engine! Read this if you have one.

    I hope I am one of a few unlucky ones. I have one of the first 2000 MPVs, bought it in September, 1999. It is a 20th anniversary Mazda Miata blue ES.

    The check engine light has always gone on and off a lot. I had it checked out several times but gave up when they never found anything. It would usually go on when I drive uphill on the highway and go off a few hours later. I also noticed that my mileage seemed to be lower than some of the other 2000 MPV drivers. I usually got between 210 and 218 per tank. I think most other people did better than that.

    Anyway last week the check engine light starts flashing. I call the dealer and have the car towed in. I was guessing the exhaust system was shot. Not! They tell me to have some hoses replaced and replace the spark plug wires along with the spark plugs. They pull the plug on cylinder number 4 and it is fouled. The Mazda tech rep happens to be there so he tells them he has seem 3 MPVs with the problem in New England. It is always just cylinder #4 next to the radiator. They run the compression test and yeah, I need a valve job.

    I have 67,000 miles on the car so the dealer is less than helpful and wants $2500 to do the valve job which will take 2.5 weeks because it is the week before Christmas.

    I start looking around quick for another car since I think it is futile to sink more money into the MPV. It is too bad. I really enjoyed driving the car. It was a little more expensive to maintain then I would have liked but it was a great car to drive.

    I really didn't notice any problems with the way the engine was running. What I did notice was that my mileage per tank was about 10 gals less than what I had been getting before. There was a gas price war going on in my town so I thought it was just the cheap gas.

    Looking back, I had to replace the alternator at around 55,000 and two of the stupid alloy wheels. One wheel over the last two winters. Ouch. I live in New England (pot hole heaven) so I suppose that is the breaks. I had the CD player, radio tuner replaced under warranty. There were little annoyances that got fixed under warranty but I still really liked the car. Too bad. I will miss it.

    I will be driving a burnt orange 2003 Honda Element next week. I do dog agility shows and pretty much managed to trash the van carpeting so the spartan Element interior was appealing. I am getting a 4 wheel drive EX for $16,000 with the trade in of the non-repaired van. Had to cut back on the car budget since we had be hoping to get a year or two more on the MPV. Wish me luck.
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    OK I am very curious about the correlation between temperature and the slamming issue. The hard shift occurs only when the van is operating at its maximum operating temperature. So I went to Sears and bought an infrared laser pointer thermometer, which measures spot surface temperatures. I tested the unit against my home wall thermometer, and it came within 1 degree. The spec claim +/-2.5% error. I expected to find unusually high tranny temperatures when at the point of hard shifting.

    I looked at several spots on the transmission housing as my aim point, and found a spot near the dip stick tube. Here is the result:

    On startup and initial warmup, the tranny runs at about 150F. Fully warmed and in traffic about 160-180F. On the highway after a high speed run 175F. After 1 hour of brutal stop & go and a steep uphill drive 195F. These are actually pretty normal readings, assuming that the housing temp is not much cooler than the tranny internals. I also tested the intake & ouput side of the tranny oil cooler and found that the intake (hot) runs about 160F, and the output runs at 150F. I am somewhat surprised by the small differential, but that could be due to the fact that the test was conducted while the car was stopped, and no airflow was going through the cooler.

    Now for the interesting part: I sampled the temperature after several hard shift instances, and found that there is no direct correlation between temperature and the hard shift! One instance of hard shift occured at 175F just as I was getting on a highway, others while in the stop & go traffic 180-190F, and some between 160-175F.

    None of these temperatures, if they accurately reflect the internal ATF temperature, indicates that the tranny is running particularly, or exceptionally, hot.

    Here is some information about ATF temperature conditions I found on the web:

    "Automatic transmission fluid will provide 100,000 miles of service before oxidation occurs under normal operating temperatures of about 170°F. Above normal operating temperatures, the oxidation rate doubles (useful life of fluid is cut in half) with each 20° increase in temperature.

    The approximate life expectancy at various temperatures is as follows:

    175°F 100,000 miles
    195°F 50,000 miles
    212°F 25,000 miles
    235°F 12,000 miles
    255°F 6,250 miles
    275°F 3,000 miles
    295°F 1,500 miles
    315°F 750 miles
    335°F 325 miles
    355°F 160 miles
    375°F 80 miles
    390°F 40 miles
    415°F Less than 30 minutes "

    So what could be the issue? I noticed that most of the time I have a hard shift, its after the engine has run, been turned off a while, and is restarted. I checked the tranny temp after it was turned off for about 20 minutes and the temp came down to 150F, about a 20-30F differential from when it was turned off.

    The transmission temperature is an important datum used by the TCM to determine shifting points etc. I learned from research on the web that some transmissions don't actually have a temperature sensor but derive (simulate) transmission temperature from other engine parameters such as engine temp, air flow, rpm, and even battery temp.

    So could it be that our MPV derives transmission temp data? Could it be that the algorithms used are wrong, particularly when calculating data at warm start-up? Could it be that this is why Mazda insists that its a software issue?
  • tomj5tomj5 Member Posts: 209
    Wow, I am impressed! Good job.. Now the next step is to get a flush. Contamnation must be elimnated as a possibility. Then that will leave 2 possiblilites:
    1. Electronics
    2. Software.
     
    Merry Christmas
    Tj
  • frankmanfrankman Member Posts: 13
    I don't really think contamination is the problem causing hard shift, because they occur so predictably and consistently. And, you can learn to avoid the hard shift as notasoccermom described earlier. Most likely it is the control software problems. And, I have a feeling that the 04 are having even worse record than 03, since I don't recall anybody report a trouble-free 04 MPV. I talked to my dealer's service department. They knew what I was talking about but claimed it is "normal." Though the service manager did say that he would need to have a test drive to say anything for sure. So, I will bring it in after Christmas. As I don't expect the problem can be fixed, I do want my case to be acknowledged and documented.
  • subyaudidudesubyaudidude Member Posts: 136
    as spamming. Truth is - those with the 2-3 tranny shift problem are technically cross-posting all over the place.

    Anyways, I'm at 1200 miles on my '03 MPV and I have had no hard-shift problems at all. We haven't been that cold here yet (maybe the lowest low was 20-25 degrees), but as I said, no hard shift problems at all. Also, I asked my dealership about it and they didn't seem to know anything about a hard shift problem (not that this is a be-all/end-all way to figure anything out).
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    Talked with a Mazda parts guy today and found out that this unit uses a strainer rather than a filter and that it is cleaned rather than replaced. Also there is no pan gasket. Sealer is used.
  • rotarykidrotarykid Member Posts: 191
    havent seen any mpv's that needed valve jobs, but have seen a few tributes that needed valve and in 2 cases, head replacement. the bad spark plug/wire issue on the mpv has been more so on cyl#3 in my experience.
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    For those of you with 2002 & 2003 MPV's with the hard shift problem, is it the same as the 2004's (between 2nd-3rd gear upshift)? My dealership told me that he heard of the 02's & 03's having shifting problems, but they were different from my 04's problem. Also, isn't the TCM & trans the exact same in all 3 model years? If that's the case, why all of a sudden the big problem in the 04's? Did they do a software change? If they did and it was causing problems, why don't they just replace it with an '03 TCM? Also, is there anybody here with an '04 that has put significant mileage on it that hasn't had the hard shift? Our's did it 9 times yesterday while x-mas shopping. Fun stuff. Just brainstorming here.
  • once_for_allonce_for_all Member Posts: 1,640
    tranny shifting issues. I own an '02 and kept good track of posts. Take a look 18 months ago, you won't find any such issues.

    The major deal back then was a shift lever indicator, the driver was not sure whether the lever was actually in drive or not.

    John
  • frankmanfrankman Member Posts: 13
    notasoccermom, my impression of the hard shifts from 03 are the same as found in your and my 04s. But, maybe Mazda did try something (software?) to address the problem and have made it even worse. While people were saying the hard shift is not easy to reproduce consistently for 03, my 04 started doing 2nd-3rd hard shifts from day 1 and does it all the time under "right" conditions. From dan2004 and notasoccermom's postings, I know exactly when the hard shift will or won't happen. Nobody has yet to claim the first trouble free 04 MPV. To answer notasoccermom's question, why not go back to the 03 settings, well, the number of 04 being sold should be still limited. Mazda would not have responded so quick. Now, you are going to ask me, how come Mazda did not realize the problem gotten worse before releasing the 04. It just reminds me the Microsoft Windows.
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    Are you finding that the shifting is becomeing better, worse, or remaining the same over time?
  • notasoccermomnotasoccermom Member Posts: 55
    Mine has been the same since day 1. It's very consistent, I can always recreate the conditions and cause it to happen. Van is warmed up in normal operating temperature, hold the gas pedal down steadily at a moderate acceleration through 1st into 2nd, then it slips and slams into 3rd every time. If I want to avoid it, I release the accelerator well before it's going to shift to 3rd, then re-depress it. Or, if I accelerate VERY slowly it will shift smooth as butter. Sheesh, why on earth would they continue to manufacture these knowing there's such a major problem!?

    We are meeting with our local Mazda service rep on Monday and he said "I think I have an acceptable solution to offer you" although he won't give us details yet. My concern is that he's going to switch vans for us, and that's why I was asking if there are any good ones out there. It'll do us no good to give us another one that will do the same thing. Unless he's offering us another one as a loaner until they fix the problem on ours, so that we don't have to continue putting wear and tear on the transmission. I think that would be acceptable. I'll keep everybody posted!
  • dan2004dan2004 Member Posts: 86
    & Seasons greetings
  • brajabraja Member Posts: 25
    I have a 2000 MPV LX. Been noticing recently
    that the front disks get too hot even after
    very short drives, say, 2-3 miles, with
    not much of brake application (not stop and go).
    They are too hot to touch. Is it possible
    that the brakes are always being applied
    by the ABS (although lightly)?

    I recently had
    the axle and control arm replaced on the
    front passenger side, and at that time,
    the mechanic did not properly put back the
    ABS sensor (I was told). The ABS light
    came on recently, along with loss of
    braking action. I got that fixed, and I
    was told that the heating problem could
    be related to this. But the heating still
    occurs.

    WOuld appreciate your thoughts on this.
This discussion has been closed.